Shaping the future of GER

Outcomes from this session: First Steps Toward Synthesizing Geoscience Education Research (Acrobat (PDF) 342kB May27 16)
This document summarizes the findings and results of group discussions at the workshop. The workshop organizers recognize these efforts to be an important first step in an ongoing process to summarize the current status of geoscience education research and prioritize future efforts.

Possible breakout groups for Wednesday morning

(suggest others)

1. How to better support those interested in BECOMING geoscience education researchers? The challenges to growing the field vs. being in the field (prof development, resources)

a. Preparation for grad students (and undergrads) who want to go into GER. Some type of common curriculum?

b. How do current geoscience faculty transition into GER? e.g., Biology Scholars program

2. What are priorities for promoting and supporting the GER research community for those IN the field)?
What would be most important for a community of practice around GER? What about legitimacy, the norms, how people interact with each other? Tenure and promotion, legitimacy, perceived value.

3. How might we build a community resource on GER Methods and what should be included?
What are mechanisms and conduits for getting website/resources of various methods? What are methodology, resource, building, and skill building - outline for website of resources or something else.as indicated by the NAGT-GER division survey (e.g., GER Methods primer - as suggested by the ENGAGE workshop or Chemistry Nuts and Bolts of CER http://pubs.acs.org/isbn/9780841269583). What are appropriate methodology skills building and resource building?

4. What are metrics of (undergraduate) student success?
What do we want students to know and be able to do? Intro students? majors? We need to know where we are going to be able to measure our pathways. What are appropriate appropriate tools and instruments (e.g., concept inventories, interviews, others....)

5. Infusing GER results into educational practices
What can we as a community do? Does there need to be more research on implementation of good practices (those that are more comprehensive, more of the levels of evidence/higher on the pyramid)?

6. Developing and supporting a GER research agenda. How might the community develop an agenda that collected important resources, prioritized critical questions, and provided design, analysis, and funding support? Could consensus yield effective and efficient research efforts, identify key limiters, align pipeline with product, and provide a foundation for both intellectual merit and broader impacts? (Tim Shipley)

7 Other suggestions .....